Bungie Weekly Update: 11/7/08

It’s less of a full update and more of a briefing this week, but not for lack of work being done. Last Friday, instead of writing the Update, I went and played some of the early parts of Halo 3: Recon. Even with some new tricks at my disposal, foes are every bit as savvy as they are in our previous games – maybe even more so, considering some of the advantages they had in this particular case.

• There’s a highway around Mombasa and Dan has made it something you can play on.
• Dave, Andrew and a friend from MS, Greg, have a treatment of a sweet loading screen involving the Superintendent.
• While Dan’s working on the streets, Lars is working beneath them.
• Tim made a tank, but it doesn’t have a turret.

Ask a Stupid Question...

Here are some answers to the latest round of burning questions. And by burning, I don’t mean “omg so hot,” I mean, “is there an ointment I can rub on this?” When Urk sent me the following questions he had collected from the thread Thursday afternoon, this IM conversation happened:

(5:17:31 PM) lukems: dude did you actually vet these?
(5:17:40 PM) lukems: like are these questions you thought would be good?
(5:17:46 PM) lukems: or did you just copy paste all of them?
(5:17:52 PM) urkster: lol
(5:17:54 PM) urkster: check the thread
(5:18:00 PM) urkster: literally 90% Mythic!
(5:18:12 PM) urkster: these are the best from what's left over
(5:18:18 PM) urkster: maybe a bad day to solicit
(5:18:20 PM) urkster: :(
(5:18:46 PM) urkster: lemme run through again
(5:20:03 PM) urkster: "Lukems, your coolest bungie employee."
(5:20:08 PM) urkster: good 1 thar
(5:20:24 PM) lukems: terrible
(5:20:39 PM) urkster: thread is a Wasteland
(5:20:51 PM) lukems: It’s like a nuclear stupid bomb went off on B.net
(5:20:58 PM) urkster: feral ghoulz
(5:21:15 PM) urkster: tried to pick some you could turn into comedic responses since there isn't much there
(5:22:15 PM) urkster: are you looking at the thread?
(5:22:18 PM) urkster: it's awesome
(5:21:56 PM) lukems: seriously, I thought about firing you over these
(5:22:18 PM) urkster: :(

Silkut X asks: In the news earlier, it was said that Halo Wars will come with the Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack including three maps. What happened to the other three? Aren't they part of the Mythic Map Pack too? Did we just read wrong and when you were referring to the Map Pack, you guys meant all six of them. Any clarification would be wonderful.

This question has popped up a handful of times around the Internet. The Mythic Map Pack in question (comprised of Assembly, Orbital and Sandbox) will be included as part of the Limited Edition of Halo Wars. Those are the only Halo 3 maps that will be bundled with Halo Wars.

Qwerty Pops 117 asks: Any chance of a Social version of MLG, SWAT and Team Snipers?

No, no and no. I keep reading over and over and over on the Internet about how these are the “skill-based” gametypes, so skilled players should just play Ranked.

Malkariss asks: Is there really something hidden on Sandtrap (or any level) or are we wasting time searching in vain?

Next you’re going to want us to tell you about the Forerunners.

Dazarobbo asks: How is the render-to-video feature coming along?
It’s still in the works and it’s still shaping up to be sweet. The Wolf is hard at work on it and it’s going to take a giant mountain of servers and flowing rivers of bandwidth.

The Arbiter 09 asks: I believe I remember Shishka mentioning that there might be a playlist with user created content in it. Is there any more info on that, or am I delusional?
Shishka was here super duper late earlier this week looking at exactly this sort of thing. I even saw Jones stop by Shishka’s desk to watch him run around some user created map. Jones said, “Huh, this looks neat.” And before you ask, no, it wasn’t something that was messaged to him via Live, it was something he found here on the site using the tagging system. That said, he’s looking at maps pretty regularly, but the quality of them is mostly in line with the quality of this batch of questions. That doesn't mean that they won't be used in some fashion. Shishka's thinking about using them for a new content series here at B.net titled, "What Not to Do in Forge."

Odmichael asks: I remember one Q&A we got a sketch of Assembly. Can you please give us a sketch of one of the other Mythic Maps?

I’m artistically tapped out right now. Plus, I have carpal tunnel.

Lynch250 asks: I sent you a letter in the mail about a few questions about a week ago. It was required to do so in school to our favorite business and I chose you. Will I get a letter back from you guys at any point?

Nope, you won’t. Keep in mind we are a business. If we answered surveys or letters like this for one person, we’d have to do it for everyone, and then it’d be even longer before our next game came out. Plus, we're not really super excited about the prospect of smallpox.

A good rule of thumb is to assume your correspondences, snail mail or Bungie.net private message are not going to be responded to.
Achilles1108 asks: When the hell is HFCS going to get its Humpday rematch? Seriously, man. Are you guys that scared of our mad skillz?

There’s no point in conquering land that you already own. It's over, Anakin. We have the high ground.
Bentheunicorn asks: Were you serious about the changes to the sniper rifle? If so, is there a way to choose which version you use in forge or something?

The Sniper Rifle changelist is as real as Robocop riding a unicorn. Maybe next time we can have Gandalf answer some questions.

TheUnUseFul asks: What do you play when you're not doing something Halo-Related? Does anyone on Bungie plan on getting GoW2 or CoD:WaW, or is that banned at Bungie?

Tons and tons of folks here at the studio play other games. Wanna hear something even weirder? There are conversations that take place all over the office all kinds of aspects of other games that we’re all playing. These conversations happen daily. See, we’re gamers just like you guys (and gals).

BerserkerBarrage asks: Oh, and who at Lionhead studios owed Kuniklo money so they had to put his name in Fable 2? I EL OH EL'd when his name popped up as one of the Crucible commentators. Coincidence? I think not.

It sure wasn’t a coincidence. That particular Fable 2 feature was something that was up for auction at Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play auction last year. So instead of Lionhead owning Kuniklo money, Kuniklo got into the game via charitable measures.

TonyTheTiger831 asks: I was playing Fall Out 3 and instantly thought of Shiska when I read the name Shishkebab. Hows about we get a new nick name for Shiska which would be Shishkebab? It's not quite the banhammer but it sure has that amazing feel to it when you strike someone with it ^_^

I asked Shishka about this over Instant Messenger:

(6:02:57 PM) Shishka: HOLY CRAP YOU ARE SO ORIGINAL. NO ONE, AND I MEAN NO ONE HAS MADE THIS JOKE BEFORE
(6:02:58 PM) lukems: how about, “that's what she said."
(6:03:01 PM) Shishka: CONGRATULATIONS, YOU GET RECON
(6:03:04 PM) Shishka: IN FACT, YOU GET EVERYONE'S RECON
(6:03:14 PM) Shishka: WE'RE TAKING RECON FROM EVERY PERSON WITH RECON, AND GIVING IT TO YOU
(6:02:58 PM) lukems: I already have Recon :(

Again, to the Instant Messenger:

(6:07:04 PM) lukems: Check this one: It says, "The "Limited Edition" of Halo Wars, does that mean regular edition, or a *gulp* more expensive edition?"
(6:07:49 PM) Shishka: Answer:
(6:08:13 PM) Shishka: REDACTED
(6:08:14 PM) lukems: Hmm, I was going to use your IM’d answer, but I don’t think I can.

"Limited Edition" means Limited Edition. The press release tags this version at $79.99 and there will be a bonus-free version of the game at the usual pricepoint.

Xkevlarpro asks: Is Bungie ever going to retake control of Faves?
Despite the some folks' “use” of the rating system - assigning a low numbers of stars for anything not in their own File Share - we’re happy with having Community groups drive Bungie Favorites. We are in control. There have been some internal conversations about the possibility of automating Favorites selections, but then, rest assured, the Community would try and find ways to game the system and ultimately break the fun for everyone.

It’s something we’re looking into, but in the meantime, Urk still has fat stacks of Favorites to get through.

PintsizeKnight asks: Moar info on the new maps. Please.

Turns out, this isn’t actually a question. As such I went back and stripped all nuggets of new map info from this Update.

Jokes, jokes. When Sandbox and Orbital peak out from behind the curtains, it's pretty likely that day won't be a Friday.